Winter Break?

[Chico Hamilton III]

Don't like it. They should go back to playing on Christmas Day too.

Yep. We should play on Christmas morning and then both teams should travel together for the return fixture on Boxing Day. That's what made Villa great!!!

Winter break? fat lot of good that did for the jocks.

And Villa seem to enjoy quite a few spare Saturdays in winter as it is, after our traditional FA cup 3rd round exits.....

[pauliewalnuts]

Strikes me that if we're going to be playing largely the same side week in, week out for much of next season, we've more to gain from a winter break than most sides.

[Monty]

Strikes me that if we're going to be playing largely the same side week in, week out for much of next season, we've more to gain from a winter break than most sides.

It could help open up the league as a whole. The Christmas period tends to be the time when the usual best teams pull away because they have the squads to deal with the strain. Without that, we could have a slightly closer table.

[pauliewalnuts]

Good point, Monty.

I'im in the "good idea" camp.

[Monty]

Same, and they could do it without messing up tradition. They could keep the Boxing Day game, followed decently spaced by the 3rd round of the FA Cup, and then a break. That would work beautifully, particularly as January is the toughest month of the year.

[pauliewalnuts]

There won't be one, though, because sponsors want their name over the telly week in, week out, and because Sky, having paid big bucks, don't want two or three weeks of nothing to show.

And that, more than anything, hints at the reason why the national team is bollocksed in this country.

Ultimately it is about money, and that hardly ever equates to something which is better for the England team.

[Monty]

Very true. To think that Dave Whelan kept a straight face while advocating the Premier League running the England team. That interview on Newsnight was hilarious, I had this running series of questions in my head: "England should be run by the Premier League" (which you might not be in much longer), "we should have an Englishman in charge, it's discouraging to English coaches not to" (which is why you've appointed a Spaniard), "there are too many foreign players in the league" (like in your first team) etc etc.